Friday, April 27, 2007

Pincushion tutorial

Do you not know what to sew this weekend????

Perhaps you want to make a pincushion???

You need:

2 inch paperpieces (or if you want to do a smaller one you can use 1 1/2 inch)Cut: 5 dark 2 1/2 inch squares, 5 medium 2 1/2 inch squares and 5 light 2 1/2 inch squares. (or cut in size 2 inch if you make the small one) Use matching fabrics.

Start to "dress" all the pieces. One little tip is to use a tine little spot of glue on the middle of the paperpirce when you place the fabric. Makes the fabric lay still when you sew it on. Then take four of the light fabrics and sew them together as a fourpatch. But you have to leave one side open. Look at the photo.

This is because you now have to sew the fift light piece in between these two pieces. Look at the photo below and you will understand how I mean it.

Do the same with the five dark fabrics.

Sew the medium fabric in between the dark fabric you have. Look at photo below and you will understand how.................... (so I hope LOL)

And when you have done this you will have two parts looking like this.

Now comes the tricky part. You have to sew it together :) The light part is the top of your pincushion and have to be sewn together with the dark/medium part. The edges of the light part is to be sewn together against the edges of the medium part. Look at the photo. If you sew it wrong together, that will work too, but you will get another shape on your pincushion.

You may have to remove some of the paperpieces to make it easier to sew together. But make sure you remove paper from pieces that have been sewn on all four sides.

Remember to leave one side open so you can turn the right side out :)

Remove all the paper

and tur the right side out.

Stuff the pincushion with batting and make sure to get batting all out in the edges. Sew the opening. Now you have to use one of your beautiful buttons and sew it on the middle of the pincushion while you sew through the pincushion from the top to the bottom and tighten it together. And now you have a big or a small pinchushion depending on what size of paperpieces you have used. Please email me if there is any question about doing this.

I'm also confused about the use of the paper.... Not really sure how or why it's used, it looks like the edges of the fabric are ironed over the edges of the paper before sewing the squares together? hmmm, sorry if this is a silly question - I'm not a quilter (yet), will have to ask my mum about it!

I've made this pincushion before as a gift for a friend...I somehow goofed up, though, and it turned out looking like a moroccan floor-cushion!! Ooops!! I realized after that I should have turned the inner pieces 1/4 of a turn more!! My friend liked it, though, so that was ok! I suppose I should give it another try?!!Mary Ann in Denmark

May, thank you so much for the tutorial. I, like others, made a mistake on my first one and it looks like a very cute dumpling. I had to get it right so I made another one. I found that I don't have the patience for paper piecing so I made the 2nd one on my machine and it turned out just great and was so quick. I'll definitely make more now that I know the right way. Picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27119831@N00/1345627692/

Thank you for sharing your pin cushion, it is fantastic. I made one for myself this week, but didn't pay attention to your instructions so it came out upside down LOL. I popped a picture on my blog if you would like to see.

I did just as someone other did , turned to a moroccan floor-cushion and I want a cute flower. I don`t understand how to turn it so it fits and become a flower ?Could you please explain itso I might understand it too ?

I made it but mine turned out completely different. I've read your instructions and I know some other ladies also turned out differently. I'm going to do it again and try again. I like the way this turned out but I still like yours better. I'll keep trying until I get it right. I love your blog, happy holidays. Hugs, Linda